This past week, I attended a band concert in which my daughter was performing. One thing I noticed as I began attending such concerts for my children several years ago was that most of those attending seemed to dress very casually. Casual dress is o.k., but awhile back it started to bother me when the dress moved from casual to downright "careless." I would see people show up to school concerts looking like they just finished sweeping out the garage, or just climbed down from cleaning out the gutters. Men wore baseball hats that they never took off. Jeans and sweat shirts and tennis shoes were common. The kids had all worked hard for this concert, couldn't parents and relatives show them a little respect by dressing up, just a bit?

One initial reaction I had to my own attitude was that for some, jeans and tennis shoes may have been the best they could do, and I really needed to be careful about being too harsh in my judgments. My wife reminded me of that, and I am grateful for her wise words. Still, I know that many who come to such events in casual grunge are capable of better, and as I headed out for this concert - smartly dressed in docker-type pants and a sweater (I had taken off my coat and tie, not wanting to be obviously overdressed, though I would have been very comfortable in such attire) - I carried my wonderment about the dressing down of America with me.

The concert was nicely done. The pieces were played in honor of Veterans, and I could hear some people behind me express deep appreciation for the effort. And something happened to me that night. I kept thinking to myself about my attitude, and was finding that I did not appreciate it. There are too many instances in our world today where parents aren't or can't be present for their children's concerts or athletic events or school programs. There are too few occasions for families to celebrate their children. If it means showing up in jeans and sweat shirts, so be it. By the way, I saw a lot of jeans, but no one looked like the garage was freshly swept.

Why did it take me so long to give up my foolish notion? Who knows, but I have also come to understand once again that life itself is a learning curve.

With Faith and With Feathers,

David

P.S. Today I preached on a very difficult and challenging passage from the New Testament, Romans 1. I posted a fair amount of my sermon on my other blog site - Bard's Brushstrokes. If you would be interested in seeing how I managed a really difficult part of the Bible, please check it out.